Pay the safe way: Always use a credit card — not a debit card, wire transfer, bank draft, or payment app outside the booking platform.
Vet the listing: Read negative reviews first, be cautious with brand-new listings, Google the address, and reverse image search the photos.
Watch for red flags: Large upfront deposits, off-platform damage fees, too-perfect reviews, or prices far cheaper than the same property on other sites should make you pause.
Summer travel season is ramping up, and so are vacation rental scams.
A new investigation from Consumers’ Checkbook found widespread problems on major vacation rental platforms, including fake listings, stolen deposits, canceled reservations, and travelers struggling to get refunds from sites like Booking.com and Vrbo.
In one case highlighted by the report, a traveler paid more than $1,100 for a Venice apartment listed on Booking.com that didn’t actually exist. In another, a family reunion rental booked through Vrbo was canceled after more than $7,000 had already been charged.
The worrisome part is that many of the listings looked completely legitimate and even had positive reviews.
Here’s how summer travelers can avoid turning a dream vacation into a financial nightmare.
Always pay with a credit card
This is the single biggest protection travelers have.
The investigation found that travelers who paid with debit cards or bank transfers often struggled to recover their money after being scammed. If you use a credit card you have a much better chance to recover your money via chargebacks and fraud disputes.
Avoid:
- Debit cards
- Wire transfers
- Bank drafts
- Payment apps outside the booking platform
If a host asks you to pay outside the booking platform, that should raise a major red flag in your head.
Be suspicious of listings with few or brand-new reviews
According to the report, fake listings often appear as “new” properties with very limited review history, and some scammers even create fake reviews to make listings appear legitimate.
Before booking:
- Read the negative reviews first.
- Look for reviews going back several months.
- Be cautious if every review sounds overly perfect.
- Google the property’s address separately.
Pro tip: If something feels off, try copying part of the listing description and plug it into a Google search for those exact words with quotation marks. If you find another listing with the exact same wording, there’s a good chance it’s a scam, and they simply cut and pasted the words into their bogus listing.
Avoid large upfront deposits
Many vacation rentals now require hefty deposits months before you actually travel.
The problem is that if something goes wrong, some travelers are discovering they have very little protection. The investigation found cases where hosts actually canceled reservations, or stopped responding, after collecting the payment(s).
Here’s the safer approach:
- Book properties with flexible cancellation policies.
- Avoid listings demanding unusually high deposits.
- Hard pass if you’re asked to pay a separate “damage deposit” outside the booking platform.
As a general rule, if a deal feels overly restrictive or overly complicated, treat that as your sign to walk away.
Scrutinize the photos carefully
When making sure the property is legit, the photos can tell you a lot.
Experts recommend checking for photos of the exterior, multiple room angles, bathroom, and kitchen details.
Too few photos can be a warning sign.
Also, be on the lookout for:
- Blurry images
- Photos that look professionally staged but very generic
- Different image styles that seem pulled from multiple properties
Pro tip: Reverse image search the photos using Google Images. Scammers have been known to steal pictures from legitimate listings.
Compare the same property across multiple sites
Another smart trick to check if the same property appears elsewhere.
Consumers’ Checkbook found that identical rentals can show up across multiple platforms with completely different prices.
This also helps you:
- Verify the property is real
- Compare cancellation rules
- Spot inconsistencies in reviews or host details
If one listing is dramatically cheaper than everything else, that’s often a warning sign.
For travelers, the biggest takeaway is to slow down and verify the listing like you would a major purchase in your life.